Xianming Sang GSD Portfolio 2021

xianming S

A

2 0 1 6

N -

G

2 0 2 1

HARVARD GSD MARCH I 22’

Table of Contents

4

A HOUSE FOR ALMOST EVERYTHING

A Hall of Records in West Philadelphia

GSD Option Studio 2020 Fall

28 “OFF-CENTER”

A Monument for People in Annapolis, MD

GSD Option Studio 2021 Spring

50

[IM]PERFECT HOMES

Affordable Housing Project in Somerville, MA GSD MArch Core IV 2019 Spring

72 “THICKENING”

A Porous Perimeter for Gathering Space at Pullman, Chicago

GSD Option Studio 2021 Spring

90

BLURRED THRESHOLDS

104

A Sleeping Club in Boston, MA GSD MArch Core II 2018 Spring

THE GRADIENT

A Spatial & Structural Grid System

GSD MArch Core II 2018 Spring

110

TREE HOUSE

A Refuge Among the Ruins of An Ancient Fortress in Vibrac, France

Competition Project 2020

118

SPATIAL INTERACTIVITY

A Community Library in South Boston

GSD Career Discovery 2016

124

CURRICULUM VITAE

01

A House For Almost Everything A Hall of Records in West Philadelphia GSD Option Studio 2020 Fall Instructor | Sharon Johnston

4

The project aims to create a resilient civic building that connects the present with the past.

The massing splits into two halves. The rectangular half with an atrium is enclosed; the other half with a pavilion in the middle, cut by the site boundary, is open air. One half is the mirroring of the other. The enclosed half houses the city’s memory and displays the it to the public; the open-air half acts as an urban living room that continuously creates new memories.

Along the central axis, a continuous public layer ascends from the ground to the upper floors, weaving together spaces on different levels, and connects the present life with the city’s past events. The upper level accommodates archives and laboratories, and the lower level entered from the back is for visitors with specific purposes such as accessing the records.

A modular system defines the interior spaces. The columns and beams, together with floor and ceiling patterns and furniture, emphasize the sense of individual rooms. Rooms are either enclosed or open, and some are combined into larger spaces.

Colonnades with different profiles differentiate the spaces they enclose. Colonnades with circular profiles enclose uncovered and sky-lit spaces to emphasize openness. Colonnades with square profiles enclose covered spaces to emphasize room-ness.

People enter from the pocket plaza in the northwest corner. They make a turn in the pavilion and start ascending along the public stairs. They hang out in the second-floor lounge and see the displayed items on the wall. They continue ascending to the third floor, where the west wing accommodates laboratories and offices, and the east wing houses the archives. People continuously have a visual connection to the central atrium while looking up records. The journey leads people from present to past and asks people to look back to the present through a new perspective.

5

Perspective view of the main entrance.

6

7

Axonometric view of the building in the city.

8

9

Left: Axonometric drawing of the building.

Right: Sections.

10

11

LOUNGE

ARCHIVE

KITCHEN

DINING

LIBRARY

RECEPTION

MEETING

12

Axonometric drawings: components of the building.

MAIN CIRCULATION

13

Perspective view of the second floor lobby.

14

15

OUTSIDE THRESHOLD INSIDE

16

Schwazze drawings: colonnades of the building.

PERIPHERY

CENTER

17

VOIDS

COVERED SPACE

18

Schwazze drawings.

SCHWAZZE 2F

19

Perspective view of the second floor lobby.

20

21

PLAN 1F

22

PLAN 2F

23

PLAN 3F

24

FLOOR PATTERN 2F

25

Perspective view of the third floor archive.

26

27

02

“Off-center” A Monument For People in Annapolis, MD GSD Option Studio 2021 Spring Instructor | Preston Scott Cohen

28

“This studio continues the investigation of architectural consequences arising from the dismantlement of Confederate monuments presently under way in numerous cities across the United States. The iconoclastic treatment of symbols rooted in the country’s legacy of racism will be understood as a destructive act of reckoning and transformation. The ultimate aim will be to design a public space and a building in which the act of de-memorialization simultaneously produces another program.”

The “off-center” project is about removing a monument from a prominent place, and displacing it to a far less visible yet much more centered location. The off-center monument modifies the existing order, and give significance to something else that is hidden.

It consists of two parts. One is in the State Circle where the Maryland State House situates. By displacing a previous Roger B Taney Statue from a prominent place to a latent center, the negative monument is hidden, while draws attention to the unique urban site, and give significance to something unnoticeable before. Another is in the City Dock area, analogous to the state house site, where the public swimming pool at the overt center and the Kunta Kinte Memorial at the latent center ask people to enjoy the present while remembering the history.

In both sites, the overt center accommodates present activities and programs while the latent center hosts history and memories. The state house site has the state house as the primary program, but is centered on a negative monument of the pro-slavery history. Whereas the new swimming pool building serving the public is centered on a positive memorial dedicated to people striving for ethnic diversity. The two sites, one is on a hill, representing government and authority, the other is in the water, representing the public and equity.

In the city, the two sites talk to each other and invite people to understand the history and mobilize the present.

29

30

Site model.

Top left: State Circle site, Roger Taney Statue deposit; Bottom right: City Dock site, public swimming pool building.

31

Latent center HISTORY Overt center PRESENT

DE-CENTER & RE-CENTER Annapolis city center has an interesting urban plan. All the urban streets are centered on the dome of Maryland state house. Nevertheless, the state house is not at the center of the state circle, as if it drifted towards the edge of the circle and intentionally left the center empty. Before 2017, the Taney statue is located in front of the state house, emphasizing the central axis.

In 2017, the statue was removed and was placed in a storage facility with no plans to relocate it in the foreseeable future.

Now, looking at the circle and the drifted state house, the question is, if we want to relocate the statue, where to place it?

With the strong presence of the state house, the center of the state circle is almost ignored. However, by placing a monument at this latent center, it draws attention to the unique urban site, and give significance to something unnoticeable.

The Taney statue will be placed at the latent center, signifying history. And the state house is at the overt center, signifying the present. The present has drifted away from history. Although the present is more visible, the history is actually situated at the real center.

32

pedestal

inverting

widening

seating

A negative pedestal.

33

Perspective view of the negative monument.

34

35

Left: (top) Model; (bottom) Site plan.

Right: Site aerial photo.

36

SITE 2 The existing Kunta Kinte memorial, will be expanded to have event spaces and educational functions, as well as potentials to provide service to the Kunta Kinte festival.

And to promote public life and address the historical racial inequity in accessing swimming pools, a new public swimming pool will be built on the water.

37

Left: Aerial view of the new public swimming pool building and the Maryland State House in the city.

Right: Illustration of the analogy between the two sites.

38

39

Left: Axonometric and plan view of the circulatory scheme.

Right: (top) Section; (bottom) Circulatory scheme iterations.

Memorial space HISTORY

Swimming pool PRESENT

40

41

Perspective view of the indoor leisure pool.

42

43

44

Left: Interior view of the staircase and memorial space.

Right: Entrance view of the staircase and memorial space.

45

46

47

Perspective view of the outdoor swimming pool.

48

49

03

[Im]perfect Homes Affordable Housing Project in Somerville, MA GSD MArch Core IV 2019 Spring Team Work | with Sharon Deng Instructor | Oana Stanescu

50

“We don’t believe in perfect homes. We believe in homes that are a perfect refelection of the people who live inside.” - IKEA Architecture, in its fixed nature, too often falls short of the specificity of lifestyles within. By proposing a network of living and social spaces whose boundary could be endlessly reconfigured to accommodate the evolving needs of its inhabitants,“Imperfect Homes” seeks to reassert the centrality of the ‘home’ beyond the rigidity of a ‘house’.

At a human and architectural scale, “Imperfect Homes” introduces six modules that converge to form three assemblies with distinct spatial qualities and aggregation logic. Specifically, each module employs an aperture strategy that negotiates between the interior and exterior in relation to the body. By embedding “gray zones” - spaces that shift in degrees of privacy according to the evolving needs of its inhabitants - within each assembly, the project establishes a fluid relationship between the collective and the individual as one of mutuality, not of opposites.

At an urban scale, shared open and commercial spaces follow the same typological grain and rhythm of housing assemblies. Roads dissolve into the landscape, encouraging unexpected interactions as demarcations between street, pavement, landscape become less pronounced.

Movement throughout the site, from room to courtyard, house to garden, residential to commercial, is subtly evident - a seamless transformation within one field condition.

Altogether, this project proposes an alternative conception of the home, one that recognizes the vicissitudes of contemporary living and adapts to its ever-evolving needs.

51

SOMERVILLE Sited in Somerville, MA, the project addresses the housing crisis that has rendered triple-deckers, whose cultural value and social history endure in the collective imagination of the post-industrial city, inadequate to accommodate the city’s rapid growth.

Location in Somerville, MA

52

Module A

Assembly 1 Module B

Module C

Assembly 2 Module D

Module E

Assembly 3

Module F

1F Plan

2F Plan

IMPERFECTION By investigating the productive tension between the individual and the city, we endeavor to design for a state of “imperfection”, one that has the potential to identify, absorb, and respond to unanticipated needs.

53

Low-Density

Medium-density

High-density

M+L

M+L

M+L

XXS+XL

XXS+XL

XXS+XL

XS+S

XS+S

XS+S

M+L

M+L M+L

M+L

XXS+XL

XXS+XL XXS+XL

XXS+XL

XS+S

XS+S XS+S

XS+S

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN PLAN 2F

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN PLAN 2F

2F PLAN

2F PLAN

2F PLAN PLAN 2F

2F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN PLAN 1F

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN PLAN 1F

1F PLAN

1F PLAN

1F PLAN PLAN 1F

1F PLAN

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION SECTION

SECTION

SECTION

SECTION SECTION

SECTION

Left: Plans and sections for three types of “assemblies”.

Right: Apertures as a design strategy to address the issue of privacy & publicity.

54

55

Left: (top) 1F plan for the low-density part; (bottom) 2F plan for the low-density part.

Right: (top) Zoom-in view of the low-density part in the detailed model; (bottom) Low-density part of the site model.

56

57

Left: (top) 1F plan for the mid-density part; (bottom) 2F plan for the mid-density part.

Right: Zoom-in view of the mid-density part in the detailed model.

58

59

Left: (top) 1F plan for the high-density part; (bottom) 2F plan for the high-density part.

Right: (top) Zoom-in view of the high-density part in the detailed model; (bottom) High-density part of the site model.

60

61

Site plan.

Statistics: Single Units:231; 1-2 Person Units: 81; 2-bedroom Units: 107; Max. No. of Units: 419. FAR: 2.35.

62

63

64

Left: Aerial view.

Right: Street view.

65

Site model.

66

67

Detailed model.

68

69

Section.

70

71

04

“Thickening” A Porous Perimeter For Gathering Space at Pullman, Chicago GSD Option Studio 2021 Spring Team Work | with Laura Cui Instructor | Jeanne Gang & Claire Cahan

72

The visitor center building from the 1970s is an enclosed concrete box, disconnected from and unwelcoming to the neighborhood. Recognizing this existing building as part of the community as well as to minimize carbon footprint, we developed the new convening center reusing most parts of the original building while renegotiating its relationship with its context.

Materially, we designed a set of recycled CMU blocks made from local construction debris, hoping that the exposed aggregate would raise people’s awareness towards construction material recycling. While the concrete material of the blocks is similar to the original building, the pattern and construction method echo the brick buildings in Pullman from the 1880s.

Spatially, the new CMU wall encloses new rooms outside of the original building, and continues into its interior to form smaller rooms inside. The new and old wall weave together and create a thickened perimeter with alternating rooms and porches. The previously enclosed perimeter becomes porous and inhabitable. The new perimeter establishes relationships with the surroundings through the changing porosity of the façade.

Through our urban study, we discovered that a synergy between industry and ecology has long existed in the Pullman neighborhood. To highlight the community efforts in promoting food sovereignty, while providing a space to encourage local ownership and entrepreneurship, we accommodated a community kitchen inside the existing building. The central space will also be an informal gathering space that ties all programs together.

The building is a new center for convening at the park that will serve both Pullman, the national monument, and Pullman, the Chicago neighborhood.

73

(top) Exterior perspective. (bottom) Old Pullman Visitor Center building.

74

75

76

RECYCLED CONCRETE UNITS With recycled concrete, we developed a series of concrete units. We took the typical Pullman brick and enlarged it by three times. There are three types, one solid, one with a small opening and one with a large opening. The three types are strategically arranged on the facade to produce a pattern that provides different levels of porosity in relation to the surroundings.

The wall has two layers of bricks with a cavity in between, and structural steel posts are sandwiched in the cavity. In solid parts of the wall, the cavity is filled with insulation. In porous parts, glass panels are hidden inside to provide air tightness. And the modular dimension enables the corner turning tectonics the same as conventional bricks.

77

78

Left: (top) Interior perspective in the big gathering hall; (bottom) The weaving wall diagram.

Right: Interior perspective in the small meeting room.

WEAVING WALL New volumes are added around the old building. The new wall encloses new rooms on the outside, and continues into the interior of the old building to enclose smaller rooms inside as well. The new and old wall weave together and create a thickened perimeter that is porous and inhabitable.

79

(top right) Perspective from the south porch looking out; (bottom left) Solid-void relation of the plan; (bottom right) Site plan.

PORCHES Looking into the neighborhood, we found porch a prototypical space. It welcomes and gathers people as an interstitial space, elevated and with canopy. We position our porches in-between the new masses and these porches serve as entrances, cafes and informal gathering areas. These are also places where the conversation between old and new material could be observed.

80

81

(top) Ground Floor Plan. (bottom) Axonometric drawing.

82

83

Left: Replacing the original concrete flat roof with a pitched glass roof.

Right: Tectonic of key joints between old concrete walls and new roofs.

84

NEW ROOF & TECTONIC The new roof will also be detached from the old wall. The gap will be sealed by glass and allows lights in. This tectonic keeps the original facade intact as much as possible. The continuity of the old facade can be perceived no matter you are inside or outside. And the gap will allow light to come in, to illuminate the old facade, which further enhances the presence of the old building in the interior.

85

(top) Section; (bottom) Sectional perspective.

86

87

Interior atrium perspective.

88

89

05

Blurred Thresholds A Sleeping Club in Boston, MA GSD MArch Core II 2018 Spring Instructor | Elizabeth Christoforetti

90

The project deals with thresholds and asks the question how a threshold can be dissolved to bring people together at urban, building and personal scale. There is a tension between the civic-minded millennial’s desire to stay connected and the demand to sleep well. The Sleeping Club invites citizens to congregate and establish closer relationship in a relaxed unrestrained setting. Club members will sleep together in a collective space, which transforms sleeping into a more intimate way to socialize, with personal space properly respected.

91

92

Left: Fictive drawing illustrating the concept.

Right: Site plan.

BUILDING AS AN URBAN THRESHOLD On one side, the solid facade with slits buffers the highway while allowing lights in.

On the other side, thinner rooms aggregated to create another soft threshold at a larger scale, which differentiates urban space with the central courtyard.

93

SOFT LIGHTING CONDITIONS

THRESHOLD CONDTIONS Definitive Threshold

PRECEDENT STUDY Soane House London, Sir John Soan

Blurred Threshold

Controlled Lighting

Left: (top) Diagrams illustrating the design process; (bottom) Study model.

Right: Model.

Direct Light Section Drawing

Simplified Section

Figure-ground Relation & Thickened Threshold

Thickened Threshold Created by Overlapping

Indirect Light Dim Light

CONDITIONS

THRESHOLD CONDTIONS Definitive Threshold

PRECEDENT STUDY Soane House London, + PROGRAMS CIRCULATION Sir John Soan SOFT LIGHTING CONDITIONS

ROOM TYPE

Blurred Threshold

Linear (Movement)

BLURRED THRESHOLDS THRESHOLD CONDTIONS Definitive Threshold

Neutral

PRECEDENT STUDY Soane House London, Sir John Soan

Overlapping rooms

Blurred Threshold

Controlled Lighting Figure becomes ambiguous

Functionality

Dialogue

View Axis

Section Drawing

Privacy

Simplified Section

Direct Light Section Drawing

Thick and ambiguous thresholds

Central (Stasis)

Figure-ground Relation Indirect Light& Thickened Threshold Celebration

ROOM TYPE

Congregation

Interaction

Thickened Threshold Created by Overlapping Individual rooms merge into a larger one

Separate rooms

Dim Light

Personal Bubble

Simplified Section

By overlapping rooms in different ways, an ambiguous threshold is created between two rooms. In the interstitial space, body belongs to both space. By overlapping more, spaces begin to merge together to form a larger one, in which case the threshold no longer separates spaces but still Figure-ground being able to define territory.

Relation & Thickened Threshold

Thickened Threshold Created by Overlapping

BLURRED THRESHOLDS

CIRCULATION + PROGRAMS

ROOM TYPE SOFT LIGHTING CONDITIONS

Definitive Threshold Linear (Movement)

BLURRED THRESHOLDS PRECEDENT STUDY Soane House London, Sir John Soan

CIRCULATION + PROGRAMS THRESHOLD CONDTIONS

Overlapping rooms

Neutral

Blurred Threshold

Overlapping rooms

Neutral

Controlled Lighting SOFT LIGHTING CONDITIONS

Figure becomes ambiguous THRESHOLD CONDTIONS

Definitive Threshold

Privacy

Controlled Lighting View Axis

PRECEDENT STUDY Soane House London, Sir John Soan

Blurred Threshold

Figure becomes ambiguous

Thick and ambiguousPrivacy thresholds Functionality

Dialogue Direct Light

Section Drawing

Simplified Section Thick and ambiguous thresholds

Central (Stasis)

Direct Light Indirect Light

Individual rooms merge into a larger one

Separate rooms

Personal Bubble

By overlapping rooms in different ways, an ambiguous threshold is created between two rooms. In the interstitial space, body belongs to both space. By overlapping more, spaces begin to merge together to form a larger one, in which case the threshold no longer separates spaces but still being able to define territory.

Section Drawing

Simplified Section

Dim Light Celebration

Separate rooms

Congregation

Interaction

By overlapping rooms in different ways, an ambiguous threshold is created between two rooms. In the interstitial space, body belongs to both space. By overlapping more, spaces begin to merge together to form a larger one, in Thickened Threshold which case the threshold no longer separates spaces but still Created by Overlapping being able to define territory.

Personal Bubble

Figure-ground Relation rooms merge & ThickenedIndividual Threshold into a larger one

Indirect Light ROOM TYPE

Dim Light

Linear (Movement)

Figure-ground Relation & Thickened Threshold

ThickenedCIRCULATION Threshold + PROGRAMS Created by Overlapping

SOFT LIGHTING CONDITIONS BLURRED THRESHOLDS

CIRCULATION + PROGRAMS

ROOM TYPE

BLURRED THRESHOLDS

Overlapping rooms

Neutral

THRESHOLD CONDTIONS Definitive Threshold

Linear (Movement)

Controlled Lighting

Neutral View Axis

Functionality

Dialogue

Functionality

Dialogue

Figure becomes ambiguous

Overlapping rooms

Privacy

Thick and ambiguous thresholds

Figure becomes ambiguous

Central (Stasis) View Axis

Blurred Threshold

Direct Light

Privacy

Thick and ambiguous thresholds

Central (Stasis) Separate rooms

Celebration

Congregation

Interaction

Personal Bubble

Indirect Light Dim Light Individual rooms merge into a larger one

Separate rooms

Celebration

Congregation

Interaction

Personal Bubble

By overlapping rooms in different ways, an ambiguous threshold is created between two rooms. In the interstitial space, body belongs to both space. By overlapping more, spaces begin to merge together to form a larger one, in which case the threshold no longer separates spaces but still being able to define territory.

View Axis

S

Figu & Th

ROOM TYPE

Linear (Movement)

Individual rooms merge into a larger one

By overlapping rooms in different ways, an ambiguous threshold is created between two rooms. In the interstitial space, body belongs to both space. By overlapping more, spaces begin to merge together to form a larger one, in which case the threshold no longer separates spaces but still being able to define territory.

CIRCULATION + PROGRAMS

Neutral

Functionality

Dialogue

Privacy

Central (Stasis)

Separate rooms

Celebration

94

Congregation

Interaction

Personal Bubble

ROOMS, THRESHOLDS, APERTURES To promote interaction between members while maintaining individual privacy, rooms adjacent to each other are overlapped to create thick thresholds. In such a way, the boundary defining each space is blurred, allowing simultaneously a sense of territory and interconnection. As club members traveling from top to bottom, the scale of spaces becomes more and more intimate, more overlapping between rooms happens, the threshold becomes more and more ambiguous, encouraging dissolving personal boundary. Finally, in the most extreme case, all the individual sleeping pods (which are half spheres) overlap each other and unite to create a large collective space. But at the same time each individual’s territory is defined by the shape of ceiling and columns, hence achieved interaction as well as privacy.

The geometries of rooms allow different lighting conditions when aggregated together, including direct light, diffused light and the dim light. The lighting conditions combining with programs to create a choreographed circulation spiraling down that leads club members to calm down and finally fall asleep in the sleeping space underground.

95

Left: Model with facade removed.

Right: (top) 5F interior perspective; (middle) 2F interior perspective; (bottom) -1F interior perspective.

96

AWAKE TO ASLEEP The lighting conditions combining with programs to create a choreographed circulation spiraling down that leads club members to calm down and finally fall asleep in the sleeping space underground. As club members traveling from top to bottom, the scale of spaces becomes more and more intimate, more overlapping between rooms happens, the threshold becomes more and more ambiguous, encouraging dissolving personal boundary.

97

PLAN 5F Gathering Hall 1'=1/8"

DN

Back of House

Gathering Hall

DN

Medium Hall

PLAN 1F

Entrance And Plaza 1'=1/8"

Coat Room Reception

98

PLAN 3F

Meeting And Talking 1'=1/8"

Sleep

DN

Meeting

DN

DN Sleep

Lounge

DN

Sleep

Bar

PLAN B1

Sleeping And Lodge 1'=1/8"

Common Room

Restroom

Sleeping

Gym

99

Left: (top) Exterior perspective from the main road; (bottom) Exterior perspective from the street.

Right: Close-up view of the model.

100

101

102

103

06

The Gradient A Spatial & Structural Grid System GSD MArch Core II 2018 Spring Instructor | Elizabeth Christoforetti

104

This project uses a finite but evolving structural bay family to explore the possibilities of a shifting spatial experience, and to manipulate the figure-ground reading of the space.

Each folded plate bay opens to create circulation at its center, and to generate larger occupiable spaces through bay aggregation. The bay system migrates between grids to magnify spatial transformation from closed to open, and from grand hypo-style hall to mundane cellular room aggregation.

105

(top left) 1F plan; (top right) Roof plan; (bottom) Section.

106

107

Left: Diagrams and study models illustrating the design process.

Right: Exploded axonometric drawing.

ADAPTIVE STRUCTURAL BAY From the most confined and enclosed areas to the open areas, the bay with a cross in the middle gradually opens the space at its center and splits it into four parts; at this moment in the bay family transformation, each module becomes dependent on its neighbor, resulting in enclosed and conditioned space. In areas that are most open, the bay structures are no longer perceived as independent figures as folded columns.

Entering the site by a boat, a field of independent column objects defines diagonal axes in the open space. As one goes deep into the space, the columns becomes higher, squeezing towards each other to merge into an aggregated structural system; the space becomes cellular, dark, and confined. Making the most of the column objects, the space inside the stones becomes occupiable. As one debarks, the columns merge to form a network of rooms. In the final sequence, the visitor emerges into an open and bright space, equally defined by landscape and bay aggregation. The experiential sequence, traveling from light to dark and reentering the light, completes here.

108

109

07

Tree House A Refuge Among the Ruins of An Ancient Fortress in Vibrac, France Competition Project 2020 Team Work | with De Qian Huang

110

The ruin of Chateau de Vibrac today is a slice of a long history. It represents a natural process.

Every element has their own life cycle, varying from a few seconds to hundreds of years. The project tries to use tree houses to record the lapse of time. The architecture is uniquely connected to natural elements such as plant and water. The periodical change of these elements triggers varying dynamic experiences in the space.

In the tree house module, the house is divided into a lower and an upper volume. The lower volume is attached to the tree trunk and accommodates restroom and living space. The upper volume is suspended from the tree top and accommodates sleeping space. As the tree vibrates in the breeze and grows over time, the upper volume sways slowly with the tree and grows with the tree in long term, while the lower volume stays unchanged.

In the ground module, rainwater is exploited to promote eco living. The peripheral volume sits on the ground and has 360-degree views to the surroundings. The central volume sits on a water tank, which is filled with rainwater collected from the roof. In winter season, abundant rainwater fills the tank and floats the central volume. Residents can enjoy sauna in the room while floating.

111

Left: Exterior perspective of the tree module.

Right: (top) 1F plan; (middle) 2F plan; (bottom) section.

112

113

114

Left: (top) Plan; (bottom) section.

Right: Exterior perspective of the ground module.

115

116

Left: (top) Sectional detail illustration wood structure tectonics; (bottom) close perspective of the tree module.

Right: (top) Interior perspective of the ground module; (bottom) concept diagrams.

117

08

Spatial Interactivity A Community Library in South Boston GSD Career Discovery 2016 Instructor | Kelley Hess

118

We were asked to design a new library for the Newmarket/Dudley Square neighborhood of South Boston, MA. The site is situated on the edge of urban fabric where residential and industrial zones intersect. While to the west of the site is the nice Newmarket/Dudley Square neighborhood, the east side of the site is flanked by large scale industrial buildings, railways and highways, so the site is cut off from the public transit hub and the South Bay neighborhood. To pedestrians, approaching the site from east is not a very pleasing experience. Thus my urban concern is to tackle with the split urban fabric by creating a library primarily for the local community yet also attracting outside users from adjacent neighborhood and from mass transit lines.

119

Through analysis of the site context and examination of demographic statistics of the area, I got three conclusions: the area has a considerable amount of vacant houses; it’s not pedestrian-friendly; there are few communal recreational spaces. Therefore my vision was to bring people together and bring back the community belongingness, to which the architectural solution is to create maximum interaction on the site.

FOUR PARALLEL BARS The interaction between the four bars is maximized when people move along the corridors.

By adding a theater and an outdoor market in the library, the permanent collective space simultaneously becomes a temporary accumulation of urbanites at the scale of the city site.

SHELVES AS PARTITIONS The shelves as a key element throughout the space serve multiple functions. Dependent on locations, the shelves serve as book stacks, partition walls, structures, as well as a place for people to exchange their used items. As a place for exchanging, the shelves become a showcase of the community’s culture, which both establishes identity among community members and impress outside users.

120

Left: Model.

Right: (top left) Programmatic diagrams; (top right) Model close-up; (bottom) Exploded axonometric drawing.

REVITALIZE THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Gallery Entrance

Cafe Shop

Reading / Seminar

Books

Study Hub

Lecture

121

Composite sectional drawing with two sections oriented according to the plan.

122

123

Curriculum Vitae

124

Xianming Sang 375A Harvard St, Apt 18A, Cambridge, MA 02138 EMAIL xianming.sang@gmail.com TEL +1 (617) 7102488

EDUCATION 2017 - present

Harvard University, Graduate School of Design

Master of Architecture 1 (3.5 Years)

2013 - 2015

The University of Edinburgh

B.Eng. (Hons) Structural Engineering with Architecture

2011 - 2013

South China University of Technology

B.Eng. Civil Engineering

WORK EXPERIENCE Sept 2019 - Mar 2020

OMA, Rotterdam | ARCHITECTURE INTERN

Fenyenoord Stadium| Detail Design

Prada Show | Conceptual Design

Jun 2018 - Aug 2018

Junya Ishigami | ARCHITECTURE INTERN

Spa project | Conceptual Design

Cultural Center DD phase | Model Making

Mar 2017 - Aug 2017

AECOM, Shanghai | URBAN DESIGN INTERN

Guangzhou CBD Revitalization

Nanjing Longpao Wetland Park Master Planning

Nov 2016 - Mar 2017

Studio Fuksas, Shenzhen | INTERN

Communicate and coordinate between Rome office and Chinese clients.

Aug 2015 - Jun 2016

Atelier cnS (Guangzhou, China) | ARCHITECTURAL ASSISTANT

Haixi Industrial Design Center | Facade Design, Construction Drawings

Yongqing Community Redevelopment | Conceptual to Construction

Lianfa Factory Renovation | Conceptual Design, Facade Design

Hanjiang Art Institute | Conceptual Design

Sept 2018 - Jun 2019

GSD 6227 & 6229 Structural Design | TEACHING ASSISTANT

Professor Martin Bechthold

Sept 2017 - Jun 2019

GSD Fabrication Lab | TECHNICAL ASSISTANT

Responsible for 3D printer and laser cutter assistance

125

xianming S

A

2 0 1 6

N -

G

2 0 2 1